


shade

by ssscout



Category: Bastille (Band)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:01:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23530519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssscout/pseuds/ssscout
Summary: Dan does a bad thing.
Relationships: Charlie Barnes/Dan Smith
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	shade

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Trash for the prompt.

Fifty percent of the band think the t-shirt is hilarious. That would be Kyle and Woody who are currently bent over double laughing, Kyle clutching the table for support and Woody wiping away a tear that has escaped his eye. 

Fifty percent of the band think the t-shirt is the least fucking funny thing on the planet. That would be Dan and Will, the former who’s face is turning a startling shade of magenta and the latter who looks like any minute now he’s going to punch a hole into someone’s mouth. 

“Come on!” Kyle enthuses as he manages to stand up straight, “I made sure to get it in your size!”

Dan looks at the offending garment, looks anywhere but at Will and snatches it from Kyle’s grasp, scrunching it up into a ball, “there is no way I am wearing it, now fuck off,” he snaps, throwing it toward Woody.

Later on, Dan finds it in his bunk, flattened out and staring back at him. The black text screams out:

_Thinking About Your Dad._

-

Even though Dan hasn’t seen the shirt for months and coincidently, Will hasn’t spoken to him for that same amount of time, it somehow makes a reappearance somewhere between Charlie joining the touring band and them playing their first gig with him.

It’s a balmy summer night and they’ve just finished rehearsing and things may have been strained with Will but Dan just steers out of his way and leans into Charlie and Kyle’s side of the stage setup and that’s when he spills his can of beer down his front and Kyle laughs and reaches into his bag.

“Here, got a spare shirt,” Kyle throws him a bundle of fabric and Dan waves his beer in the air to say thanks and then he unfolds the ball and shoots Kyle a glare but it’s too late cos Will has already seen it and then…

“You know what?” Will snipes, snatching Dan’s beer from him, “why don’t you wear it to our first gig with Charlie tomorrow? Sure he’d like to really get to know you and what you’re all about.”

… and that is just not fair because Dan really, really likes Charlie and respects him and Will, Will has just been fucking _waiting_ for a moment like this when he can burst Dan’s bubble and tell Charlie just exactly what the singer is really fucking like. 

“What’s it say?” Charlie is giggling and he steps forward and takes it from Dan. He frowns then starts to laugh as he reads it.

Now it’s safe to say that sixty percent of the band think it’s fucking hilarious and the remaining forty percent of the band are shooting daggers at each other.

-

“So, erm,” Charlie nods his head toward Kyle, “what happened?”

It’s after the gig, they’re all backstage with the crew. Kyle is wearing the shirt. Of course he fucking is. At least, Dan thinks as he swigs from his beer, at least he had the good sense _not_ to wear it on stage. Will has gone back to the bus with his girlfriend and Dick is trying to herd everyone else in the same direction.

Dan shakes his head, “you know when you meet someone and you get to know them and you think they’re a decent person?”

Charlie takes Dan’s beer and nods, “uh, yeah?” He takes a swig and passes it back to Dan.

“Yeah, I’m not gonna talk about it because I feel like we are at that stage now and I’m not ready for it to end,” he downs the rest of the beer and slams it down a little louder than he’d intended, “I also think Dick is about to lose his shit if we don’t make a move back to the bus.”

-

It’s weeks later, maybe months and they’ve been booked for this charity gig and Dan is buzzing because it’s in London and they haven’t been home in so long. So most everyone is inviting family and friends and they’ve been rehearsing all week because they changed the set list up a lot and it’s all coming together and then…

“So, you invited your dad, Will?” Woody asks while simultaneously lobbing a drumstick at Dan. It hits Dan right in the cheek and clatters to the floor.

“Ooh, Dan could wear his shirt!” Kyle chimes in and really, Dan thinks as he bends down to get the drumstick, this is getting fucking old now. So old really, that maybe Will will roll his eyes and shake his head and that will be that.

But no.

“I don’t know,” Will is rubbing his face with a towel as he walks over to Dan. He claps him on the back, “why don’t we ask Dan here? I mean, I haven’t seen my dad since my parents separated. Have you?”

Surely, _surely_ , Kyle and Woody know better than to laugh but clearly not - a quick glance up and Kyle is spluttering out his beer and Woody’s thunderous roar of laughter echoes out from behind them. 

Charlie looks up quizzically from his guitar and Will digs his fingers into Dan’s shoulder, “maybe you could invite him and his new boyfriend?” He hisses, his fingers digging deeper until Charlie puts his guitar down and strides forward.

And then he’s gone and the laughter has stopped.

-

“Tell me what happened.”

The door clicks shut and Dan turns round. There’s Charlie leaning against the door and he’s pushed the lock across even though Dan knows they’re the only two left in the studio. 

Dan sighs and turns away. In approximately ten seconds Charlie is going to stop looking at him with those big eyes full of intrigue and start looking at him through more narrowed, hooded eyes; the way most of Will’s mates do now; the way Will does and most certainly the way Dan does when he looks in the mirror.

And Dan, he isn’t sure he’s quite ready for that disappointment.

There’s a hand on his shoulder though and Dan winces. Charlie’s fingers are cold as he pushes Dan’s collar down.

“Fuck, is this what Will did?”

Dan tries to shift away but Charlie catches him by the arm and spins him round.

“Dan?”

He glances down at his shoulder, can just about see the fingerprint bruises that are starting to show.

“I slept with Will’s dad. A year or so before you joined us.”

Charlie sweeps his fingers across the bruises delicately. His mouth forms an ‘O’ but his eyes remain the same. He needs more, Dan thinks. So he clears his throat.

“I didn’t know he was Will’s dad. Not at first.”

“How did you meet him?”

Dan sighs. So he wants details?

“Grindr,” Dan pauses, “it wasn’t to date. Just to fuck. And that was it. We met up four, maybe five times. And then we went on sorta like a date and he mentions his son is in this band and they’re going places and he says he feels bad because he oughta take more of an interest but he says he just can’t _relate_ to a band who’s biggest hit is about a fucking volcano of all things.”

Charlie’s eyes, they’re still twinkling. 

“And I told him right then, _are you fucking kidding me_? And he googles the band and he looks like he’s going to be sick when he sees the photos and then we’re fucking in the back of his Jeep and I know he’s married and I know he’s Will’s dad but I can’t stop. I can’t stop going back.”

“Did you,” Charlie pauses, “were you in love?”

“No,” Dan shakes his head, “he was funny and the sex was amazing but that was it and I felt no remorse… not until Will comes into the studio one day and he’s pacing and Kyle and Woody were there and he asks them to leave but they won’t because they’re like, ‘what the fuck, Will?’.”

Charlie frowns because Dan’s voice, it’s starting to break now.

“He just grabbed me by the hair and dragged me into the sound booth. Locked the door. I can see Woody and Kyle shouting at us through the glass screen but I can’t hear them. And he just lets loose. Tells me his mum was on his dad’s phone and she went through it to find a picture - not to snoop - just to find a fucking picture of one of their dogs and instead she finds pictures of me sucking his dick and I mean, I deserved it okay? So I didn’t fight back and I just thought, he’ll stop in a minute, he’s got to stop…”

“Hey. Hey!” Charlie grabs Dan’s wrists, “slow down. Slow down.”

Dan takes a moment. Charlie looks concerned. His fingers are shaking and Charlie wraps his hands around them.

“He put me in intensive care.”

“What?” Charlie’s eyes are wide now; disbelief, “ _what_?” He repeats.

“Don’t,” Dan tries to unlink their fingers but Charlie isn’t letting go, “don’t feel sorry for me. I got what I deserved.”

“Dan, no one deserves that…”

“His mum had read the messages, the ones after I found out it was Will’s dad. The ones that stated I didn’t care and I still wanted to fuck his brains out.”

Charlie smiles a little.

“Hey,” Dan nudges his shoulder, “it’s not funny.”

“No but, I just, I have a hard time imagining _you_ saying those words. You’re way too polite.”

“I’m not. Not really. I’m a bad person,” Dan finally prises his hands free from Charlie’s, “and I’m sorry I’ve led you along to thinking otherwise. I mean. It’s been nice. It’s always nice to find someone who thinks you’re a decent person, who wants to spend time with you and isn’t about to crack a joke about that massive fucked up thing you did this one time. But I guess, well, that’s over now…”

“What are you talking about? You think I won’t want to hang out now? What are we, like, year five?”

Dan shrugs, “I need to finish up here and lock up.”

“Oh. So that’s it for _you_? What about me? Don’t I get a say?”

Dan sighs and sits down on the sofa, grabs his keys from the table as he begins to fasten his boots. He took them off earlier because sometimes he likes to sing barefoot - even if Will has taken a liking to standing on his toes at every given opportunity. 

The sofa dips as Charlie sits down. He grabs the keychain from Dan’s mouth and tosses it onto the table. Shoves Dan’s hands away from his bootlaces. 

“I did a bad thing, Charlie, a really bad thing.”

“We’ve all made mistakes.”

“Yeah but this is pretty fucking monumentally bad.”

“Doesn’t make you a bad person though.”

“I fucked my best mate’s dad. Makes me a pretty bad person.”

“What about the guy who fucks the guy who fucked his best mate’s dad?”

It takes Dan a moment.

And then Charlie is kissing him.

**FIN.**


End file.
